A bunch of angry, fed-up federal police in Juarez launched a mini-rebellion against some of their commanders Saturday, accusing them of corruption. That prompted officials in the Mexico Attorney General's Office to send internal affairs personnel and other investigators to Juarez to investigate the incident and the allegations of corruption. It should be a fertile field for the investigators. There have always been questions about corruption in the ranks of law enforcement in Juarez and in the rest of Mexico. [continues 239 words]
Allegations Of Corruption Spur Inquiry Mexico's Attorney General's Office has opened an investigation into allegations of corruption within the federal police in Juarez. The investigation is in response to an uprising by hundreds of federal police officers on Saturday against some of their commanders, whom they accused of taking money and having connections to drug traffickers. The commanders were taken into custody at gunpoint, handcuffed and smacked around by their ski-masked subordinates, who claimed corruption was putting their lives at risk. [continues 230 words]
Journalists in Juarez demonstrated during the weekend as part of protests across Mexico asking authorities to do more to safeguard members of the news media and freedom of the press. A demonstration on Saturday in front of the Mexico attorney general's office building in Juarez coincided with a march of more than 1,000 journalists in Mexico City. The demonstration was to "condemn the constant aggression we have been subject to in this climate of insecurity and violence in the entire country," stated the Juarez Society of Journalists and Communicators. [continues 220 words]
Authorities reported finding the dismembered body of a Mexican federal agent early Sunday in Juarez. The remains were found near a shopping center, along with a message, purportedly from a drug cartel. Officials would not disclose what the message said. On Saturday, federal agents in Juarez protested against their commanders, whom they alleged had orchestrated extortions, robberies and drug-related crimes, and unjustly framed a fellow agent who was charged with drug possession. The agents made their allegations public in front of reporters, and clashed with federal agents who tried to safeguard the commanders -- Ricardo Duque Chavez, Antelmo Castaneda Silva, Joel Ortega Montenegro and Salomon Alarcon Romero. [continues 176 words]
I was at a recent breakfast meeting for District 4 constituents. Joyce Wilson was the featured speaker. The topic of the City Hall shootings came up. She gave a tempered, but serious response. Someone asked a question: "Are you going to issue bullet-proof vests to city employees? (Ha-ha-ha)." I failed to see the humor then; there was no humor in the bullet hole and broken glass in Ms. Adauto's office on the day of the shooting. I went to see for myself. The difference in outcomes was nothing more than a whim. Had someone at the roundtable simply stood up, the consequence would not have been funny, it would have been a funeral. [continues 256 words]
Things got a little dicey Saturday in Juarez when heavily armed federal police agents squared off against each other -- their loyalties divided because of the violence that has gripped the city and alleged corruption in their ranks. One group of about 150 armed federal agents accused their commanders of corruption and grabbed one assistant commander, handcuffed him, pulled his hair and slugged him. Agents wearing ski masks told television reporters that their commanders are corrupt, are taking their money and are putting them in danger in the war between the Juarez and Sinaloa drug cartels. [continues 395 words]
Legalize marijuana? Placate those who wish to do us harm? Drugs and radical religions' beliefs are merely the vehicles. Power and control are the drivers. Hold fast, America. Harry E. Lally East El Paso [end]
More than 28,000 people have been killed in Mexico's drug wars. It could get bloodier. "The grenades, the car bombings in Mexico is just a preview of the worse to come. The collateral damage is nothing now in what can happen to the future," said Phil Jordan, former director of the federal anti-drug El Paso Intelligence Center, or EPIC. Grenades have been increasingly used in attacks in Juarez and other parts of Chihuahua. Last month, Mexican federal police and rescuers were ambushed with a car bomb on a downtown Juarez street. [continues 577 words]
Say it once and it may be a slip of the tongue. Say it twice and you're dissing your constituents while trying to make a point. Texas Gov. Rick Perry had to have known, you'd think, that bombs related to narco violence in Juarez are not exploding in El Paso. But he's said they are -- twice now. El Paso's battle has not been amid drug cartels fighting each other and government forces in Juarez. Our battle has been to convince the rest of America we are, indeed, the second-safest large city in the U.S. and it's safe to come here as a tourist or for business purposes. We want people to come here to live. [continues 330 words]
How much worse can things get in Mexico as violence and corruption wrack that country? Well, on Wednesday, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said that drug cartels are now trying to take over governments in many parts of the country. "This has become an activity that defies the government, and even seeks to replace the government," he said. And now, with more than 28,000 people dead in the Mexico violence since 2006 when a government "crackdown" began, there are predictions of intensified violence. [continues 294 words]
EL PASO -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry's recent misstatements about car bombs exploding in El Paso drew more heat Wednesday. State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, no stranger to criticizing Perry, added to the chorus during an afternoon news conference. "We cannot let the governor of Texas lie about us to get votes," Shapleigh, D-El Paso, said. "He is pandering to extremists. We are not his political pinata." Perry has been taking fire after saying during an interview on border security on Fox News that bombs had exploded in El Paso. Perry later made a similar comment in Laredo, saying a car bomb exploded in El Paso, according to Pro8News. [continues 244 words]
About 28,000 people have been killed in Mexico's drug wars since the government's crackdown began, the country's top intelligence chief said. Guillermo Valdes, director of the Centro de Investigacion y Seguridad Nacional (CISEN), or National Security and Investigation Center, said at a news conference Tuesday that drug abuse also is on the rise in Mexico. CISEN, which provides information to various Mexican government agencies, is similar to the CIA and DEA's El Paso Intelligence Center. CISEN's death toll is higher than the national figure of 24,826 that the federal Attorney General's Office (PGR) released in July. [continues 89 words]
EL PASO -- Four separate grenade and shootout attacks on federal agents Sunday, along with a prison riot, prompted a state of maximum alert Monday in Juarez. The attacks happened within a two-hour time frame starting at 7:20 p.m. Sunday. They took place in different parts of the city, officials said. Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz declared the alert Monday afternoon. "The level of alert will continue until we feel the situation does not present a threat to our local police," Ferriz said. [continues 295 words]
Figures such as those leap to mind when the Mexican government trumpets the arrest of a drug-cartel figure. Such is the case with the recent arrest of Luis Carlos Vasquez Barragan. Mexican federal police say that Vasquez headed up cartel operations in northwestern Chihuahua, where he ran a group of at least 30 people and took his orders from alleged cartel boss Vicente Carrillo Fuentes. That's a high-level take-down that should be cause for celebration. But with the judicial system's long-standing reputation of corruption, there's no assurance that Vasquez will ever be prosecuted, much less remain in prison. [continues 218 words]
EL PASO -- The Sinaloa drug cartel may undergo a bloody power struggle after the death Thursday of one of its key leaders, U.S. officials said Friday. But the cartel, which has been entangled in a war with the Juarez drug cartel since 2008, will continue to traffic cocaine and methamphetamine into the U.S., they said. The Mexican army shot and killed Ignacio "El Nacho" Coronel Villareal, 56, during a raid Thursday in a suburb of Guadalajara, Mexico. Coronel, who was indicted on drug-dealing charges in El Paso, is one of the two associates close to Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the alleged leader of Sinaloa drug cartel. Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Garcia is the other alleged drug boss. Guzman and Zambada are both at large. [continues 497 words]
EL PASO -- U.S. officials on Friday refused to explain further why the U.S. Consulate in Juarez was closed or whether it was in response to a threat of more car bombings if the U.S. did not take action against allegedly corrupt Chihuahua officials. The only explanation offered was that the consulate was closing for a security review, a reason that U.S. officials have not given before. The previous time the consulate was closed was after the slayings of two El Pasoans, one of whom worked in the office. [continues 525 words]
EL PASO - One of the four Mexican journalists who are being held hostage formerly worked in Juarez. Hector Gordoa, a TV cameraman for the Televisa network in Mexico, was abducted Monday in the Laguna region, which straddles the states of Durango and Coahuila. He used to be a news director for Televisa's Channel 2 in Juarez. Carlos Lauria, senior program coordinator the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) in New York, called on Mexican authorities to investigate. Lauria said the Laguna region has been troubled by violence between Los Zetas criminal group and the Sinaloa cartel. [continues 173 words]
In battle-torn Juarez, the right segment of the population has taken a step toward regaining city pride. The youth. Who better than the future city leaders to do so. Some 5,000 people attended a festival Saturday where the message was aired: There are still positives despite the long-running narco violence on city streets. It was a good move, this live music. Because, since January 2008, this city of more than 1 million people has been in a lockdown of fear. [continues 268 words]
The threat of more deadly car bombings like the one earlier this month has forced Juarez authorities to take measures to protect police stations, and authorities reported finding more explosives in Chihuahua on Wednesday. The car bombing that killed three people apparently was ordered because law-enforcement agencies are perceived to be siding with either the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels, which have unleashed a wave of violence in the city that has claimed the lives of nearly 6,000 people since 2008. [continues 948 words]
JUAREZ - The youth of Juarez sent a message to the world on Saturday - Juarez is alive. More than 5,000 young people of different religious beliefs, political views and economic backgrounds gathered Saturday at a live music concert at the Centro Cultural Paso del Norte Explanada, in the ProNaf area. The music festival was the first of many positive events to come, said Carlos Uraga Peralta, spokesman for La Red, a group of Juarez youths. Uraga Peralta said the purpose is to promote and highlight the region's music, art and culture to fight the poor image the city has because of the violence that has gripped it since 2008. [continues 446 words]
